In the fall of this year, Comcast initiated a trial run of capped broadband plans of which the lowest data caps were set at 300 GB per month. This Comcast feels is sufficient for the majority of its customers. The trial session was in the southern states, which included Atlanta, Nashville and Charleston which are major markets of the company.

The company has explained that this shift towards capped plans is in response to changes in the market. “As the marketplace and technology change, we do too,” Comcast writes in its FAQ. “We evaluate customer data usage, and a variety of other factors, and make adjustments accordingly. Over the last several years, we have periodically reviewed various plans, and recently we have been analyzing the market and our process through various data usage plan trials.”

In response to this move by Comcast, BGR has claimed that “anyone who has actually looked at changes in the marketplace and technology can tell you that home broadband data caps make absolutely no sense in this context. The amount of things we can do on the Internet now has become more data intensive, from online gaming to watching Netflix streams in 4K.”

The data caps will allow Comcast to bill consumer’s having excessive data usage, with overage fees raking in more money for the broadcasting company. If FCC allows Comcast to provide Internet “fast lanes” for paid content providers, it can give more power to the company. These “fast lanes” will exclude those companies’ services data from getting capped.

Although many consumer’s will not like this new plan, they have little to no choice to stick with Comcast because in many markets there are absolutely no other options.

The HBO Go service is currently an add-on offering streaming premium cable content – but only to HBO cable subscribers. But what consumers actually want is a stream only option that will hopefully save money. And if they cannot get what they want from HBO then they ‘cut the cord‘ and watch online streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Although HBO have in the past resisted a move online and used HBO Go as an add-on for existing members to watch cable on mobile, the writing is on the wall as online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant, Hulu Plus and Roku encroach more on cable subscribers. But the good news is that time has moved on, and HBO Go may be offered as a standalone service.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, speaking at the 23rd annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference said that the company are finally looking at offering HBO direct to consumers saying, “We are seriously considering what is the best way to deal with broadband. The really good news is that we have viewers clamoring for HBO.”

HBO has always been resistant to allowing customers to pay less for a streaming option, and that idea was shot down in flames by HBO co-president Eric Kessler who said, “there is no chance his company will make its original programs like True Blood or The Wire available to non-cable subscribers.”

As consumers are presented with much more choice, and are rebelling against ever rising cable packages, cutting cable becomes a much more attractive proposition.Especially as streaming services such as Netflix are beating HBO in subscription revenue and subscriber numbers.

Bewkes said, “The broadband-only opportunity up until now wasn’t. at the point where it would be smart to move the focus from one to the other. Now the broadband opportunity is quite a bit bigger.”

Although Bewkes hinted at the online only option, nothing definitive has been decided saying, “Everybody in the media business is thinking about what is the most appropriate way to market your product. … Is there some time in the future when that could happen? Absolutely. I don’t know when that is … over the next three to five years, the business will change dramatically.”

Apple TV’s attempts to make a bigger impression on the internet TV set-top box market have taken a slight hit this month, after it was reported that the American technology giants are being forced into delaying their next generation of Apple TV.

The proposed redesign of the Apple-centric connected TV sets is believed to be held up on account of ongoing ‘negotiation issues’ with partnering cable companies, a set of problems that may see their newest version kept from shelves until 2015, having originally been anticipated for a release at some point this year.

Company CEO Tim Cook has previously made claims that his company are due to put a ‘new type of device’ on sale as of this year, though if it is merely a revised Apple TV then Apple’s dedicated followers may be left disappointed. While it may now be a while before there is a new iOS-powered content streaming box on the market to compete with its Android competitors, will the delay be enough to see it released as a stronger competitor in the industry, or will negotiations continue to falter?

Time Warner Cable are set to expand the HBO service by offering an internet only based subscription service, aiming to target customers who shy away from traditional cable.

Even though HBO have previously gone on record to say they would not offer a streaming only service, TWC last year launched a $49 monthly trial with Comcast offering a backdoor way to get HBO streaming. The package offers just Internet, HBO (along with HBO Go) and basic TV.

The rumor is that the deal will be expanded within the market and that more cable and internet providers will offer the deal. The offer is aimed at targeting cord cutters who refuse to subscribe to expensive pay TV services and source cheap/free material online instead.

The news comes shortly after Time Warner recently rejected a $75 million takeover deal from Fox, although the company owned by Rupert Murdoch is set to make a counter-offer.

While it is currently a market that the likes of Google, Apple, and industry-specific names such as Roku have a dominant hold on, it appears as though a company that makes its name in larger spaces of the TV shelf are aiming to break into the internet streaming set-top-box market, with their new over-the-top product Fan TV, from Fanhattan.

The device, carrying the support of Time Warner Cable, will set prospective customers back around $99, a lot more than Google’s non-box TV streaming effort, but not overly expensive for the type of product being offered, with an offering of both live TV and Internet-streaming services at its disposal.

With the support of of TWC, the product carrying an innovative design both inside and out should be released by Fanhattan in either May or June, set to include exclusive features for Time Warner Cable video subscribers including key access TV and video-on-demand, though for non-subscribers other streaming options are set to be available including Crackle, Redbox Instant from Verizon, Target Ticket and music streamer Rhapsody.

Though Time Warner will be offering support (that sees it join services available on Roku, Samsung smart TV sets, and Xbox 360 as part of the ‘TWC TV’ range) there are not set to be any financial investments towards Fanhattan under the terms of the deal.

The partnership is still aiming to be a productive one on both sides, though, as Time Warner Cable’s general manager of video Mike Angus said of the upcoming release: “It’s really a paradigm shift from what’s in the market today. It provides new ways for our customers to discover the content we have. Fan TV’s user interface is pretty brilliant.”

Claiming that their work with Fan TV is designed as an alternative as opposed to a replacement for their existing services, TWC TV have perhaps chosen wisely in some aspects such as the lack of a DVR function on Fan TV, though providing their TWC TV platform (with up to 300 live channels and over 5,000 video-on-demand options), albeit in a more limited form than their ‘full’ service should be attractive enough to provide an alternative as required without needing to outshine the providers.

Gilles BianRosa, the CEO of Fanhattan, believes in the quality of his company’s product though, citing an advanced ‘content-discovery engine’ (a cornerstone of the company’s business operations since foundation in 2011), as well as ‘touch-based remotes’ as potential headlining features, whilst hinting at a future deal to bring a Netflix app onto the platform. Focusing on the present, though, he said of the ‘live TV focus’ with recommendations through multiple services: “We have built the best TV experience to surface all the content in your subscriptions.”

While the rumours surrounding Time Warner Cable‘s potential new owners (reportedly Comcast to the sound of $45b) meaning the collaboration might go the way of a failed bid to launch Fan TV with Cox Communications last year, the manufactures will hope that there is still enough time to launch and gain exposure in their own right before that happens. But will TWC’s backing be able to help them reach such a status regardless?

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While it has been a fairly reasonable item to be able to predict the release of in the technology industry since the first came out with success, further evidence has uncovered plans for a potential new version of Apple TV set-top boxes to hit the market at some point in the near future.

This leaves Apple TV, noted as a rival in the market and as a possible collaborator for content (such as claiming video content deals from Time Warner) not as the centre of attention in the supposed reveal, though the mention has been enough for media sources to latch onto in a quest to report the latest potential product developments.

An excerpt of the FCC filing states: “Today, Google competes as a network, video and technology provider, and eight out of nine of the next Google Fiber markets the company announced are in Comcast or TWC areas. Apple tablets are viewing platforms for cable services even while Apple offers an online video service, Apple TV, and explores development of an Apple set-top box.”

A further suggestion made in the FCC’s notes include that the new hardware could be sold as an ‘over-the-top box’ relying on internet connection as opposed to through a coaxial input. Apple, of course, are yet to confirm or deny whether or not they are even making a new Apple TV box, let alone any of its specific features…